Over the years, various article, e.g., mail, feeding, handling, sorting, and transporting systems have been developed for feeding, handling, sorting, and transporting pieces of mail. Within the field of article handle, one source of bottleneck and other handling problems has been the transporting of the articles along a surface. For example, know article conveying systems often have unstable platforms and may have an arcuate sectional profile whereby medial portions of a conveyor belt are often arcuate. This unstable platform and arcuate profile, however, can make printing on a surface of an article, e.g., a mail item, paper, or cardboard material, difficult. The results can be a distortion in the surface or ink as the ink from a printer is being applied. This, in turn, can cause irregularities within the printed image, poor image quality, and poor image resolution. Accordingly, there is a need for a more stable conveyor system which allows articles to be handled and transported effectively and allows printing on the surface of the article with minimal irregularities, high quality, and high resolution in the printed image.